Two Upstate South Carolina residents – including a former 9-1-1 dispatcher/ reserve deputy with the Cherokee County, S.C. sheriff’s office – have been arrested on charges related to the sexual exploitation of a minor.
Brandon Mullinax, 25, of Gaffney, S.C. was arrested and charged with ten different alleged offenses – four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of criminal solicitation of a minor, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of promoting the prostitution of a minor, one count of participating in the prostitution of a minor and one count of disseminating obscene material to a minor.
Mullinax was arrested after a lengthy S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) investigation initiated at the request of Steve Mueller, sheriff of Cherokee County.
Prior to February of this year, Mullinax worked as a 9-1-1 dispatcher and a reserve deputy in Cherokee County.
In a development we’re told is related to the case, Blacksburg, S.C. resident Alex McAbee, 23, was arrested and charged with four offenses – two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of promoting the prostitution of a minor and one count of participating in the prostitution of a minor.
Warrants issued for the arrest of Mullinax and McAbee reference Facebook messages allegedly sent and received last September involving “a minor, under age of 18, appearing in a state of sexually explicit nudity.”
The warrants also reference an incident that allegedly occurred last October in which Mullinax “did entice, encourage or facilitate a minor … to participate in prostitution” including exchanging Facebook messages with a co-defendant “in reference to engage in sexual activity with the minor and negotiating a price.”
Mullinax and McAbee are also accused in the warrants of paying or agreeing to pay “the minor or the minor’s agent for having participated in prostitution.”
Developing …
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our stories? Please feel free to submit your own guest column or letter to the editor via-email HERE. Got a tip for us? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question? CLICK HERE. Want to support what we’re doing? SUBSCRIBE HERE.
Banner via iStock